Chapter 1 Introduction to Visual Basic Programming and Applications 1 Joshi R.G. Dept. of Computer Sci. YMA

Objectives Machine language vs.. High-level language Procedure-oriented, object-oriented, and event- driven languages Background of Visual Basic VB Integrated Development Environment Online documentation and Help features 2

Application Programs Program - detailed set of instructions for a computer to execute Application programs (applications or apps) - self-contained collection of programs that perform a task for the end user Programming language - formal language used to give instructions to computers 3

History of Programming Languages Machine language Procedure-oriented languages Object-oriented languages Event-driven languages Natural languages 4

History of Programming Languages Machine Language ◦ different for each computer processor Procedure-Oriented Languages ◦ FORTRAN ◦ COBOL ◦ Pascal ◦ C ◦ Ada 5

History of Programming Languages Object-oriented languages ◦ Smalltalk ◦ C++ ◦ Ada 95 Event-driven languages ◦ Visual Basic ◦ most Visual languages 6

History of Programming Languages Natural languages ◦ computer will accept a user’s native or natural language, such as English ◦ Researchers continue to work in this area 7

Background of Visual Basic BASIC ◦ Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code ◦ By John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz ◦ Designed to teach programming to beginners ◦ BASIC language interpreter, one of Microsoft’s first products 8

Background of Visual Basic BASIC ◦ Included with DOS ◦ QBASIC - included with DOS Version 5 - subset of BASIC Visual Basic ◦ Visual Basic 1 for Windows 3 ◦ Visual Basic 4 - for Windows 95 ◦ Visual Basic 5 - for Office 97 ◦ Visual Basic 6 - for Windows 98 & Office

Visual Basic Editions Learning Edition Professional Edition Enterprise Edition Included in Visual Studio suite (analogy Office for programmers) 10

Visual Basic Editions Other Visual Basic packaging options ◦ VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) ◦ Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic ◦ Visual Basic Scripting Edition ◦ Control Creation Edition 11

12 Toolbox Form Designer Window Code Editor Window Project Explorer Properties window Form Layout Window Visual Basic 6 Interactive Development Environment

Elements of the Integrated Development Environment Application icon Application name Context menus Controls Current project Design view mode Title bar Major windows ◦ Form Designer ◦ Form Layout ◦ Toolbox ◦ Project Explorer ◦ Object Browser ◦ Properties ◦ Code Editor ◦ Immediate, Locals, Watch 13

Introduction to Visual Basic Hands-On Exercise 1 ◦ Start Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 ◦ Open the Welcome Project ◦ Open the Welcome Form ◦ Run the Welcome Project ◦ End the Welcome Project ◦ Exit Visual Basic 14

Get Help When You Need It MSDN Library Microsoft on the Web Learning Edition of Visual Basic 6.0 ◦ Visual Basic 6.0 in Action book ◦ Learn Visual Basic Now multimedia tutorial 15

MSDN Library 16 Topic Pane Navigation Pane

MSDN Library Visual Basic Documentation ◦ Documentation Map ◦ What’s New ◦ Programmer’s Guide ◦ Samples ◦ Reference Guidebooks ◦ Component Tools Guide ◦ Data Access Guide 17

Get Help from the CD Hands-On Exercise 2 ◦ Open the Calc Sample Application ◦ Run the Calc Sample Application ◦ Get Help from the MSDN Library ◦ Add a Topic to the Favorites List ◦ Search for a Definition ◦ Exit Help and Visual Basic 18

Help from the Web Pull down Help menu Select Help from the Web ◦ or 19

Get Help from the Web Hands-On Exercise 3 ◦ Use the Free Stuff Page to Update VB ◦ Install the Update (optional) ◦ Product News ◦ Frequently Asked Questions ◦ Online Support 20

Use the Right Tool for the Job Microsoft Office Suite ◦ Word - word processing ◦ Excel - spreadsheet ◦ PowerPoint - presentation ◦ Access - database OLE = Object Linking and Embedding Use Visual Basic to create a specialized, customized application 21

Summary... Event-driven languages is a major improvement in programming languages Editions include Learning Edition, Professional Edition, and Enterprise Edition CD-ROM includes the MSDN Library, and many sample programs 22

Summary Integrated Development Environment includes ◦ Form Designer, Form Layout ◦ Code Edition, Project Explorer ◦ Properties and Object Browser Choose the right tool for the job Visual Basic is the glue that binds Windows objects together 23

Practice with Visual Basic 1. Automated Teller Machine 2. Personal News Service 3. Getting Assistance While You Work 4. Pricing Information 24

Case Studies I Wish I Could Visual Basic Help on the Web Quick Reference Manual Planning for Disaster 25

Thank You 26